Space etc
by Big Bad John
Summary: (Rated mostly for language) Naota gets stuck in a very strange place with no idea where he is or how he'll get out, come to think of it, I have no idea how he's going to get out. Should be fun finding out though. Chapter 3 up. Reviews welcome
1. Space ect

Well this is my first FLCL fic, and I'm still looking at where I'm going with it, I don't think it's that good but reviews are welcome, it's the only way I'll learn.  
  
Disclaimer As you may have guessed I don't own FLCL or any other copyright I may inadvertently infringe, depending on my mood I may write in a lot of stuff I do own but I'm sure you'll be able to tell the difference  
  
Space etc  
(Crap name I know but it's the best I could think of)  
  
Naota was walking home form school, most of his friends seemed to live in different directions from him so he made the trip alone. Not that he had a problem with that, he never had. He enjoyed the time alone, he enjoyed the walk, it gave him time to think, to put his thoughts in order. As he strolled along that day the usual thoughts played out on his mind, one had been dominating lately.  
  
"Not long yet"  
  
Five years had passed since the only remotely interesting thing that had ever happened to him had happened and he was ready for some excitement again.  
  
"17", he reflected "what an awful age, almost a man, but not quite, almost able to leave, to run to get the hall out of Mabase. Not long, and then I can leave this place"  
  
He couldn't wait, for the time when he could leave, go anywhere he wanted, hell he would have preferred places he didn't want to this dull stretch of land. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he never heard the engine as he was crossing the road. Didn't see the car, he was so engrossed in his thoughts that he almost didn't feel the impact.  
  
Naota had spent a long time wondering about his brain, or lack there of. He reasoned that it must be somewhere as he quite obviously had all his mental functions but he didn't know if it was in his own head. Not really the point seeing that Haruko was clearly never coming back so the black hole in his head could just exist or not exist for all he cared, and since he didn't expect anyone to use it, he never felt the need for the giant eyebrows Amarao had given him. He still had them, souvenirs of a sort. What he didn't know was that it was this day when his questions on the subject of what was inside his scull were answered.  
  
The car sent him sprawling, it wasn't going very fast but that didn't sop Naota getting a pretty big jolt. The last he felt before he woke up was his head smash very hard against the concrete of the road. Then, nothing save an inky blackness, and a sound like rushing wind.  
  
Naota woke up in what appeared to be a store room, it was piled from floor to ceiling with crates of all sises. A door was set into the far wall. Cautiously he pulled it open. A sign, clearly legible on the other side (the one that would normally face out) said.  
  
"Staff only"  
  
"Weird" though Naota  
  
The room looked like the inside of a bar, completing this image was the bar that stretched from just beside the door to the far end of the room. The place was obviously closed, the only person in there was the barman getting ready to open, although to be fair to him his preparations had stopped after the appearance of Naota. The barman, out of curiosity, started to speak. It wasn't an accent Naota was familiar with, he didn't even recognise it.  
  
"Oi, just how long have you been in there."  
  
"I woke up in there, came strait out"  
  
"Ok, how'd you get in there?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"You don't know how you got into a room, only accessible from the inside, what's more you got in with out me noticing, even though I can see everything in here and the front door is locked."  
  
"In essence."  
  
"And you expect me to believe this."  
  
"No, but it would be a great help if you did."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because then I wouldn't have the problems of convincing you."  
  
At this the barman gave Naota a look like one you or I would give to someone who has just, in all sincerity, claimed to have found the elixir of eternal youth. But then as the barman reasoned, he did look young.  
  
Naota decided a different line of questing would be the best bet  
  
"So where is this anyway?"  
  
"You say that not only do you not know how you got here but you don't know where here is?"  
  
"In essence."  
  
"Well son, you are in the recreational bar on board the space station ALU- 5"  
  
"ALU"  
  
"Astral Living Unit, the fifth one in this chain,  
  
"Space station?"  
  
"You don't know what a space station is, jees man, basically an enclosed area in space mimicking a planet surface where people live and work. Where are you from anyway?"  
  
Naota, for the time, decided to ignore the question.  
  
"And this chain thing."  
  
"Well basically, several units are tethered together with hi energy beams, theirs no physical link but we can exchange materials and people through them, anyway they all orbit the base planet in sync and balance each other out. One station on its own would be too small, the populous would go insane, and we can't build single ones big enough to get round the problem, they would be too volatile. So we link smaller ones up, all different, so people can transport for an instant change of scenery. Now answer, where are you from."  
  
During this speech Naota couldn't help but wonder how this was the result of being run down back on earth, surely he should be dead. He decided to answer the question.  
  
"Oh, Earth." he said as casually as he could.  
  
"The barman's face remained unchanged."  
  
"Don't get many of you guys out here, we get even less who don't know how they got here. You ever had contact from anyone outside your own planet before."  
  
"Once." A bitter look crossed his face as memories of her flooded back.  
  
"And"  
  
"She used my head as an N/O portal."  
  
"What was you last thing that happened to you on earth."  
  
"I got run over."  
  
"Did you hit your head."  
  
"Yes, in fact that's the last thing that happened before I woke up here."  
  
"OK, I think I've got it now. The N/O portal never seals up, you have it for life, on the plus side, your brain can never be damaged seeing as how no matter how had you hit your head, your brain aint in it. Of coarse the problem arises if you split your scull open. The N/O portal escaped, encompassed you and transported you, you woke up here fully intact.  
  
Naota was suddenly worried "Why here."  
  
"Why not, just a random place, with no purpose the N/O Is a giant exercise in the random, you were luck that you landed somewhere you could survive"  
  
"How do you know all this."  
  
"Because I'm from a planet that's made interstellar contact, it's pretty well known among people from planets who use the technology. Are you going to argue with me."  
  
He had a point, and he was right, Naota wasn't going to argue with the only point of reference he had and he at least seemed to know what he was talking about.  
  
The barman started talking  
  
"So, while you're here I can rent you a very nice room."  
  
"I have no money, in fact, I got nothing at all here."  
  
"As I was saying a very nice floor, incidentally the one you're standing on, at no cost to yourself."  
  
"Gee, thanks," Naota said dryly, knowing full well he'd end up taking him up on the offer.  
  
To Be Continued  
  
Ok, so it's not great, but I'm sure it'll get funnier as it goes on and I get my own little version of this universe set up and working and as I work put where I'm going to go from here. Reviews are welcomed. 


	2. Realisation

Disclaimer  
  
As you may have guessed I don't own FLCL or any other copyright I may inadvertently infringe, depending on my mood I may write in a lot of stuff I do own but I'm sure you'll be able to tell the difference  
  
Space etc Chapter 2: realisation  
(Crap name I know but it's the best I could think of)  
  
Naota's mind started functioning, but he didn't dare open his eyes, there was still a vague part of him that hoped it was all just a very bad dream. One by one he started to sense things. He was covered, not by his usual thick duvet, but by the flimsy material of his own cloths. They certainly weren't doing much too either keep the heat in or the cold out. The next thing he noticed was how hard the surface he was lying on was, it wasn't his usual springy mattress. The final straw came when he started wondering just what his head was resting on, the realisation that it was his own right arm bent under his head brought with it the knowledge that he was totally fucked, and not in the good way. Even worse, as memories of last night flooded his head he realised why it felt so bad, he remembered that he had met a lot of people in the bar last night and had spoken with a good few of them. He also remembered that more often then not the conversation contained the line.  
  
"You're from earth, cool man, hey let me bye you a drink, welcome to the galaxy man, cheers."  
  
Or at least one a lot like it. Obviously even if his brain wasn't in his head, even if it couldn't be damaged he could still suffer hangovers. Naota cautiously opened his eyes and saw the same room, tables, chairs and a long bar, Naota had come to think that there was very little else to do in space to keep yourself occupied other then drink, most of the sights he had seen last night supported this theory. Finally he decided to bite the bullet and get up, he didn't have anything else to do and he was uncomfortable enough to be certain that he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep. Accepting that things were probably going to be weird for a while and that he might as well just relax and try to enjoy it.  
  
The first thing to do, as he saw it, was to work out where he was, how far from earth he was, and how he could get back to earth. It was his fond hope that he could find someone who could answer these questions.  
  
As Naota understood it most of the people who lived on these stations were doing jobs that didn't need to be located on the planet surface, for instance, products that required a person call a helpline for assistance seemed to have there call centers and operatives in space, a lot of things were manufactured in space and then exported to the planet. There were also researchers looking at the effects people living in space had on space and sociologist's looking at the effect's living in space had on people who were living in space, the fact that they did this while living in space themselves really boggled Naota's mind. The stations, or at least one in this chain, also seemed to serve as a service station. Offering fuel, rest, repairs and whatever else to pilots and there crews as they passed by, the rarity of these stations made there services pretty expensive.  
  
With those thoughts he took to the, for lack of a better word, streets, trying to find someone who could tell him about what was going on. He hadn't walked half a mile when he felt a faint tap on his shoulder. He looked up, a youngish man, maybe in his mid-twenties, as Naota reckoned time at least, for a second they locked eyes, he raised his hand and gestured for Naota to follow him, turned and walked away. Naota, more out of sheer curiosity then anything else followed him to a quiet corner, away from any activity. Before Naota could ask what everything was about the man said.  
  
"You're the earth-man with the gift of N/O, yes?"  
  
Naota could only nod dumbly.  
  
"Good, look, I got a proposition for ya. There are only 2 ways off this chain. One is with the regular government supply ship that isn't due for 3 more weeks, the other is getting in with a private crew on a private ship. And you don't want the former, trust me."  
  
"Hu."  
  
"The poles of the sphere are near hear, it's these that house the equipment needed to transfer things form one unit to another. How do you think they do it, with N/O portals. Only artificial ones though, that's why they can transport so little at a time, for real N/O you need living complex tissue, and what better then brain tissue."  
  
"I thought that because of the N/O my brain wasn't in my head so how could its tissue be a factor?"  
  
"Well, the brain helped to generate the portal in its formation, and the N/O is still wired into your brain, wherever that is. Why else do you think that what came out of your brain was influenced by your emotions."  
  
"How do you know that?"  
  
"Cause you're an N/O portal, it's not common to be able to do it but I've spoken with enough of them to know that it's the same for all of you. Anyway if you leave with a governmental ship they'll put you to work, transporting big, uncomfortable things through your head, not just that but they'll do experiments on you, they'll try to figure out how to make artificial N/O as strong as living N/O."  
  
"Why do they want to do that?"  
  
"Who knows, there motives could be good, open up travel for all planets of the galaxy, or at least the ones they govern, ok the crews of ships, not to mention those who build them, loose out but it's a small price to pay. Or the motives could be bad, they might want to take over all of the peaceful worlds, not to mention the world's that aren't peaceful that there already at war with, using N/O to move great army's and weapons, even to make plaints disappear. I'm offering you a way out, I'm offering you passage on my ship, it's in the commercial dock on unit 1. In exchange for some help along the way we'll get you back to earth. Just follow me."  
  
He turned to go, but before he could start walking Naota called after him.  
  
"Why, why are you helping me?"  
  
"Simple, there are so many hostile life forms out here that there are very few people you can trust In space, what it all boils down to is that us earthlings really should stick together."  
  
TBC  
  
And things continue on. Cheers to all those who reviewed, I'll try and get this continued as soon as I know where it's going, got a bit of an idea though, so it shouldn't be too long. 


	3. Extra Cargo

Well chapter three and I might try and make a plot emerge here and with luck it won't be totally shit.  
  
Disclaimer  
  
As you may have guessed I don't own FLCL or any other copyright I may inadvertently infringe, depending on my mood I may write in a lot of stuff I do own but I'm sure you'll be able to tell the difference  
  
Space etc Chapter 3: Extra Cargo  
(Crap name I know but it's the best I could think of)  
  
"Earthling." Naota berthed to himself and rand to catch up to the man.  
  
"So, where we headed"  
  
"My ship, as I said it's in a commercial dock in unit one."  
  
They had made it to unit one before he spoke again.  
  
"I suggest we hurry, two suspicious looking individuals in suits just came through that door, someone must have told the government about you. Don't turn round, just keep walking."  
  
"There that desperate for test subjects that they'll send someone to pick me up before I can escape."  
  
"Evidently"  
  
"How do you know there governmental, how do you know there not just two people in suits."  
  
"Well, firstly there's the fact that to function in the reduced gravity of space people generally wear light clothing for easy movement. The fact that they both have the exact same hair cut, or the slight giveaway that they just showed some guy governmental ID, said something and he, as a response, pointed to you. Just a guess."  
  
"Oh, good point"  
  
"Just keep walking until we get round that corner and out of their site."  
  
"And I suppose then we run." Naota couldn't help but let his voice take on a certain dryness as he said that.  
  
"Don't be stupid" he said with a knowing grin. "As soon as we turn that corner were face to face with our ships docking portal."  
  
"Smart arse."  
  
"And damn proud of it." He said as they wondered, unobstructed through the door to the airlock, they were two steps from the ship itself.  
  
"But won't they easily be able to get through the outer door."  
  
"I hope not."  
  
It was then that he was proven wrong, the door started to open.  
  
"Oh shit" The man said with practiced understatement.  
  
"So now what do we do"  
  
Suddenly two shots rang out behind them, the governmental agents fell dead. They turned, a woman stood in the open doorway of what was presumably there ship. She spoke.  
  
"I'll tell you what you do, you thank fuck that you've got a good crew."  
  
Unfazed the man shot back.  
  
"Yes thank you, I was literally two seconds away from."  
  
"Death, probably, and worse for your friend." She said.  
  
"Well In was going to say a plan, but that did sound much more dramatic."  
  
"Just get in here."  
  
"Fair enough." He turned to Naota "You coming"  
  
Naota followed them through the doorway and into the ship proper.  
  
Meanwhile back in the bar on ALU-5 the barman was getting a grilling from yet another officious man in a suit.  
  
"You said there was living N/O here, you said he was only a kid, you said it would be easy to capture him"  
  
"Well I didn't know he'd get help from those, those, people."  
  
"Those people directly caused the death of two agents, and indirectly caused the death of one civilian."  
  
With that he turned, unholsterd his gun, and shot the barman through the head, his body pitched forwards onto the bar, blood running over the surface where a bar towel tried to soak up the copious amount of blood, it failed, miserably.  
  
Back on the ship, now well into space and cruising on autopilot, the fore members of the crew plus Naota sat in what Naota reasoned must be the bridge. He thought this because of the instrumentation banked on the walls.  
  
The man who had got him out of there, he now recognised as the pilot, spoke first.  
  
"Well, I suppose before everything else introductions are in order, I'm Mac, Mac Fris, from earth. I fly this crate" He gestured at the women who saved them earlier. "That's Kia Kreslem, she's a Saturnian. She mainly deals with intelligence and communications, it was her who got word you were there, really quite lucky that we were as well." He pointed to a tall man sitting opposite, "That's Terin Sed, he's a venution, he does the navigating, and finally." He gestured to the last remaining crew member, a man of average height, with dark features. "Rate Kinra, Jupaterian, gunnery and defenses."  
  
Naota could only manage a weak. "Nice to meet you goys, I suppose there are reasons you all do what you do."  
  
Mac continued. "Individually yes, I pretty much fly the thing, basically because Earthlings have evolved a good ability to fly, seeing as how were the only planet from The Solar System who's wars extended to air, as a species the earth-human as evolved a good aptitude for flying. It's all about evolution, we all look the same, we're all human, but we've evolved different internal skills. Terin does the navigating because the populace of Venus live under the surface seeing as how it's the hottest planet in The Solar System. In a complex system of tunnels a good sense of direction and map-reading ability is needed. Rate, well, I'm sure you know that Jupiter is the 'vacuum cleaner of The Solar System' well, because it's gravitational pull attracts every loose rock there is Jupaterian scientists have had to become dab hands at defending there cities, Jupiter is the only planet to have mastered force shields, offensive technology just happens to progress in step with defensive, that's how it is. And, well as for Kia, Saturnian's are natural comms officers, those rings provide enough interference to make radio communication an art on Saturn, plus, Saturnian women make great spies, hell, look at her, men will tell her anything so long as she smiles at him."  
  
Naota had to admit, she probably was the most attractive women he had ever seen.  
  
"But it's another case of evolution, the populations on Saturn run at about 10 women to one man, so every woman on the planet has evolved to be extremely attractive so as to be able to attract a mate and propagate the species."  
  
Naota's face wrinkled in thought "So, why don't we just head there and set up permanent camp."  
  
"Which brings me to my next point, you may have noticed that were all from the same solar system, The Solar System, its needs no name, it's ours and that's what matters to us. No planet in TSS had made official interstellar contact yet, as a group we can never return to our own planets, we know too much, incidentally that's why we were kicked of our own planets in the first place."  
  
"But people on earth knew of aliens."  
  
"Certain parts of the government did, this is true, but official announcement of the knowledge of alien hadn't been made, therefore, earth had not yet made interstellar contact officially. Same with every other planet. The reason we all we all ended up like is that we all discovered the existence of alien life forms. We man aged to break from a detainment facility, where it was, we don't know, the theory is that it uses N/O to be simultaneously in several parts of the universe at once, it's imposable to find according to the uncertainty principle. TSS governments, or at least the bits that knew about each other used it to hold people who know too much. We managed to break and steal a ship, now we do nothing but hang around space, surviving anyway we can."  
  
"Why do they lock up those who know of alien races?"  
  
"Because giving the knowledge to the populace like that would cause mass hysteria, people don't' like being lied to and the media has done enough to make people think that alien race would be hostile that people would shit themselves, then riot, then rally against the government, then try and kill the aliens, all while they try and do the same thing. The thing is, the people of every planet in TSS are peaceful. Every planet that hasn't made contact yet is listed. Pretty much ignored."  
  
"By who"  
  
"Think of the hole of infinity as a world, and every planet within it as part of a country. When you're working at this sise you can't play it small. Basically there are two forms of elected government elected on about a third of the worlds each. One slightly left of center, one slightly right of center. There engaged in a race to discover a way of synthesising artificial N/O as strong as living N/O. Both have a long way to go. While not openly hostile to each other these governments secretly dislike each other and none would like to best each other at this more, as that would cause the people on there planets to revolt and accept the other governmental type this would allow them to take on Medical Mecanica directly, with increased numbers they might have a chance of winning."  
  
"Why not ally themselves against Medical Mecanica."  
  
"Without N/O technology to match Medical Mecanica nothing can be done, they have several living N/O subjects whose minds have been warped to serve them. So the people wait and see who can deliver a promise of a chance of victory. Medical Mechanica for there part concentrate on taking over the free planets, like those of TSS, to build up strength for the day when either Right or Left find out how to generate artificial N/O. It hasn't seems to have occurred to them to work together, like with a human, if Left and Right uses there different opinions to stimulate growth of ideas on the other side and share knowledge then it might work, but, these people cant see that, they just don't trust each other. And now to the ones you might have com across, was it a he or a she?"  
  
"A she." Naota seemed to sigh as he said it.  
  
"Tall, slim, attractive, weird hair and eye colour, guitar, bass or six- string it doesn't matter."  
  
"Yes, yes, very, yes, yes, yes, blue Rickenbacker bass.  
  
"Yep, what you came across was a Jhoshef."  
  
"A what."  
  
"A race of people, while they can be charming and ok for a while, and while they do have that certain something, when you get to know them they are, annoying, arrogant, self satisfied, self centered, selfish and only concerned with number 1. They have the arrogance to believe that they are the greatest race in the universe. Her planet, for there is only one of them, is huge, there are loads of them. Once Medical Mecanica made an attempt on there planet and those bastards can hold one hell of a grudge. They can generate a field of N/O encompassing the entire planet, if anyone approaches they get transported into nothingness, which must suck, that's Medical Mecanica hasn't tried to simply out number them and take there planet by sheer force. But be sure there thinking of something"  
  
"But the one I met wasn't after Medical Mechanica, she was after a captive of there's."  
  
"Atomsk you mean, well even one Jhoshef knows that they wouldn't be able to take Medical Mecanica alone, there were just after one person, but taking Atomsk seriously weakened them, they probably only chose her because she had personal drive backing her up."  
  
"Well, yea, she loved him."  
  
"And she went in under cover."  
  
"Yes, a member of the Space Force Police."  
  
"Not surprising, there the only ones who have free access to free planets."  
  
"Speaking of, what do the Jhoshef's think of free the planets?"  
  
"They couldn't give a flying fuck, we are of little consequence, they think that about everyone, only us more so, if we get blown up, or demolished it doesn't matte to them so long as they achieve there aims."  
  
"And where do you guys fit in."  
  
"We try to survive, anyway we can, we're the only ship manned by those from free planets, we have to get by any way we can."  
  
Mac had obviously finished the back-story, Naota could only sit there marveling at what he'd learned. At that moment Terin lifter his head form the console.  
  
"Mac, an internal scan of the ship shows that we appear to have a stowaway on board."  
  
TBC  
  
Was that to much info for one chapter, was that info hackneyed and trite, is this fic a load of shit, well, will you lot review and let me know I'll see what I can do as far a chapter 4 goes. Cheers to all those who have reviewed so far, your input is appreciated. 


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